In America, the people claim the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

African descendants in America have been wrestling with those rights since we were brought to this land in chains.

We fought for our liberty and some are literally throwing it away.

Our pursuit of happiness has degraded into a mere pursuit to exist.

And as for the “life” part, we are slowly dying.

Slavery gutted Africa, taking its most vibrant and vigorous men and women in their childbearing years, enslaving them, tearing them from each other and slaughtering them. That completely destroyed the natural cycle of that continent, which is why it’s all screwy, even today.

It was made worse when the world continued to ravage the continent of its other natural resources, making war and causing strife amongst and between the indigenous peoples.

Recent times have done the same thing to the African in America, as integration and the illusion of inclusion induced the best and brightest of the community seek to live anywhere but around other Blacks. It completely destroyed the natural cycle of the community.

It was made worse when the nation and crack came to ravage the community–as the educated and hard working denizens migrated to other communities, the lowest of the low became elevated and respected.

Pimps, prostitutes, gangsters and thugs took their place at the top of the food chain and completely retarded the process. Things went off on a “Back To The Future” parallel universe tangent.

Americans became more base, more involved with personal pleasure and satiation, which is why so many Americans are not just fat, but morbidly obese.

And so many Americans are not just overly sexual, but hypersexual.

Strippers used to not move the way nerds move today. Dances amongst young folks are so hyper sexual, they are more sex than dance.

Sex is killing our children.

There was once a straight brotherhood, where the gangsters only took the kids who weren’t going anywhere anyway. As much as I thought I was a gangster, I was told in no uncertain terms that they would beat my ass everyday after graduation until I went to college, preferably out of the city.

Now the gangsters take whomever they can and lives are destroyed. Grown men behave as children and dress like children with their pants hanging down and underwear showing. Gangsters are now the biggest cowards, shooting at random to avoid face to face confrontations. Destroying the community by killing the men.

There was once a straight sisterhood, where women encouraged each other to be beautiful and to have virtue.

Now promiscuous women are the standard, with influenced women telling each other that they don’t need men, not even to have children-in essence, avoiding the building of family and helping to destroy the black family by fostering a war against men, resulting in more children without fathers and more women who are single and bitter. And blaming it all on the men who aren’t there.

Even if there is no man in the home, why can’t the single mother teach her kids what is right and wrong?

There is no personal responsibility.

In general, Black men blame white men and Black women blame Black men. For everything. In such an environment, whites can say nothing about Blacks or they will be accused of racism and Black men can say nothing about Black women or they will be accused of hating them, even if they are telling the truth.

The goal used to be to be recognized as a king or queen, now it’s just to be called that. But there is nothing royal about the wild behavior of most Americans.

Common courtesy is no longer common. “Excuse me. Pardon me, Thank you.” Opening doors. We’ve lost all of that and it’s been replaced with an overabundance of information that most people have no idea how to process.

The Internet hasn’t brought enlightenment, just an overexposure to information that many people can’t properly consume. So they make stuff up.

Everybody has a blog, and an online business.

The economy in general and the housing market, specifically, have fallen apart.

Take a look at McDonald’s and the Dollar Menu. Why is food suddenly cheaper? Everything else is rising, but food is now cheaper than it was years ago.

We hear the simple minded make simple minded statements, including: “Everyone can get a job if they want one. Some people just don’t want to work.” But, when we are not stupid, we realize that there are not enough jobs and not enough demand for the services that exist.

America has reached the point of over production and under consumption.

We’re headed to a third world existence. While people can’t conceive of it happening here, it can and it will. People can’t see it because of the fake image of America they hold on to.

But the U.S. will be like the vacation spots where there are two groups: the ultrarich and the people who cannot eat.

In the course, things will get far more ruthless and more screwed up.

When you study structures, there are necessary outcomes.

If you set up a social dynamic, you will get a specific result.

Our specific result is death.

We are dying slowly, but we are indeed dying.

Darryl James is an award-winning author of the powerful new anthology “Notes From The Edge.” James’ stage play, “Love In A Day,” opened in Los Angeles in 2011 and will become a feature film in 2012. View previous installments of this column at www.bridgecolumn.proboards36.com. Reach James at djames@theblackgendergap.com.